jemcomicfandomcom-20200214-history
Jem
Source: IDW Jem Birthdays (Kelly Thompson; @1979semifinalist) |family=Emmett Benton (father) † Jacqui Benton (mother) † Kimber Benton (sister) Shana Elmsford (adopted sister) Aja Leith (adopted sister) |instruments=Lead vocals, guitar |occupations=Songwriter, Manager, Singer |debut=Issue #1 |gender= |height=5'5" (as Jerrica) 5'11" (as Jem) |hair=Blonde (as Jerrica) Pink (as Jem) |eyes=Blue |loves=Her sisters, writing, the smell of old books, the sounds of waves and rain, peaches, and chocolate |hates=Public speaking, dog-eared books, cold showers, tabloids, and onions |guilty_pleasure=Bubble baths |prized_possession=Jemstar earrings |voted_most_likely_to=Do the right thing |deepest_secret=Jem is the secret holographic alter-ego of Jerrica Benton, created with the help of Synergy |status=Alive |affiliations=Jem and The Holograms |previous_affiliations= }} Jerrica Benton – also known by her alter ego Jem – is the main character of the ''Jem and The Holograms'' comic. She is the manager, main songwriter, and lead singer of The Holograms. Jerrica is currently in a relationship with Rio Pacheco. About Jerrica is the biological sister of Kimber, and the adopted sister of her bandmates Aja and Shana. Her mother, Jacqui Benton, died when the sisters were a very young age. Their father, Emmett Benton, died a year before the events of Issue 1. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 1 As a child, Jerrica witnessed a prototype Synergy being worked on by her father, when a hologram of Silica projected itself it frightened her enough to send her running and slipping into the family's pool. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 15 She met her boyfriend Rio after he saw The Holograms' Misfits VS! competition entry, and he came to visit her out of journalistic curiosity, but took her out on a date instead. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 2 Involvement Emmett built a sophisticated supercomputer, which he hid away behind a Jukebox in the family's home recording studio. It was meant to be a gift for Jerrica and her sisters but he wasn't able to tell them about it before he passed away. It is connected to a pair of red, star-shaped earrings, also intended as a gift for Jerrica, which act as a conduit between the wearer and the supercomputer from any location. The supercomputer is activated by accident when their home is hit by lightning, and Jerrica meets the interface of the computer for the first time - a pink and purple humanoid called Synergy. Synergy is capable of projecting extremely sophisticated, lifelike holograms that are indistinguishable from the real thing. Because of this, Jerrica learns that Synergy is capable of making anyone appear like a completely different person - and realises that, if Synergy turns her into someone new, she would be able to sing for The Holograms without anxiety. She creates Jem, and transforms into her for performances, by activating her earrings. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 1 Personality Jerrica is sensible, practical, and level-headed. She is the most responsible of her sisters, often trying to intervene when they are being overly spontaneous. As the band's manager, Jerrica carries a heavy workload on her shoulders while her sisters are free to enjoy their leisure time; this causes Jerrica a lot of stress, but she always perseveres, no matter the difficulty. She spends a lot of time weighing the pros and cons of scenarios to find the best solution, and always thinks before she acts. Jerrica suffers with intense performance anxiety; in her case, freezing up and fleeing the situation. Out of love and loyalty for her sisters' dream of being a successful band, Jerrica kept pushing herself to perform despite her fear. Her inability to perform, however, threatened the viability of the band, until she created her alter-ego JemJem and The Holograms, Issue 1. As Jem - who is very different to Jerrica, physically - Jerrica is able to perform with confidence. Jerrica is deeply conflicted about keeping her double-life a secret from her boyfriend, Rio. She has wanted to tell him about her secret for a long time, but is worried about the risk of revealing Synergy's advanced technology to anyone outside her family. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 17 When Silica's mind control damaged Jerrica ability to separate Jem from Jerrica, she accidentally kissed Rio while she was in Jem's form. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 14 The shock of his reaction to this event was so devastating that it broke Silica's control over her. Cartoon Incarnation Jerrica Benton was the co-owner and manager of her late father's record company, Starlight Music. She also managed the record company's charity called the Starlight Foundation, which funded Starlight House: a foster home for orphaned young girls. Jerrica and her sisters were the guardians of 12 foster girls who lived with them. Jerrica juggled her responsibilities as a business-woman with her role as Jem, the lead singer of Jem and The Holograms. Jerrica was hardworking, dedicated, kind, helpful, good-hearted, and friendly to both fans and allies, but could also be self-righteous, single-minded and condescending at times. She often butted heads with her younger sister Kimber, but they always ultimately forgave one another. Jerrica was 12 when her mother, Jacqui died in a plane crash - the two had been very close, and it impacted her greatly. She crossed paths dozens of times with the Holograms' rival band The Misfits, whose lead singer Pizzazz was fixated on bringing down Jem. Pizzazz's hatred for Jem and her sisters lead to some dangerous - often life-threatening - situations. Jerrica sometimes struggled to distinguish where Jerrica ended and Jem began, which led to her dating her longtime boyfriend with both identities at the same time. Rio and Jerrica had a turbulent and somewhat strained relationship with her longtime boyfriend Rio because of this, only exacerbated when Riot, the lead singer of The Stingers, obsessively pursued her romantically. Redesign Of the Holograms, Jerrica has the least drastic visual redesign, with a very similar but slightly more modern short haircut. Jem's redesign is also extremely similar, even using the same pink face makeup design as her cartoon counterpart, but has significantly longer hair and is notably taller. IDW's Jerrica is not the head of the Starlight Music record company, instead managing The Holograms as an individual under the 5x5 Records record label. In the cartoon, Rio has relationships with both Jerrica and Jem simultaneously, and is similarly enamoured with both of them; in the comic, Rio is fairly nonchalant and disinterested in Jem, and only has eyes for Jerrica. Jerrica spends significantly less time as Jem than she does in the cartoon, typically only transforming into Jem temporarily for performances, interviews, or meetings with their record label. Gallery Jerrica.png|Jerrica from the comics Jerrica7.png|Jerrica from the 80's cartoon IDW Jem.png|Jem from the comics Jemevolution10.png|Jem from the 80's cartoon Appeared In *Issue #1 *Issue #2 *Issue #3 *Issue #4 *Issue #5 *Issue #6 *Issue #7 *Issue #8 *Issue #9 *Issue #10 *Issue #11 *Issue #12 *Issue #13 *Issue #14 *Issue #15 *Issue #16 *Issue #17 *Issue #18 *Issue #19 *Issue #20 *Issue #21 *Issue #22 *Issue #23 *Issue #24 *Issue #25 *Issue #26 *Infinite #1 *Infinite #2 *Infinite #3 *Infinite #4 *Infinite #5 *Infinite #6 *Dimensions #1 *Dimensions #2 *Dimensions #3 *Holiday Special *Valentines Day Special *Outrageous Annual #1 *Outrageous Annual #2 References ---- Category:Female Characters Category:Jem and The Holograms Category:Main Characters Category:Rebooted Characters